A grieving Russian mother who was told her premature baby son had died shortly after being born has spoken of her joy after she was reunited with him alive and well five years later.

Vera Fomina, 48, from Mohirevo near the city of Sverdlovsk, gave birth to a baby boy a month and a half early, with doctors telling her his chances of survival were incredibly slim.

The child was rushed away for emergency treatment but two days later she and her then husband were given the devastating news that the boy had died.

The truth, however, was that their newborn son was still alive but had been mysteriously sent off to an orphanage for abandoned children, where the child lived for five years until a human rights activist researching his background worked out what happened and reunited him with his mother.

Mystery: Grieving Russian mother Vera Fomina (right) - who was told her premature baby son Vova Lipin (left) had died shortly being born - has spoken of her shock at discovering he was alive and well five years later

Shock: Despite his parents being told he was dead, Vova Lipin (pictured) had been mysteriously sent off to an orphanage for abandoned and ill children, where he lived for five years

While seven and a half months pregnant in 2003, Ms Formina was rushed to hospital where she gave birth to her son Vova Lipin prematurely.

Describing the ordeal, she said: 'Vova was very weak and the doctors said his chances of living were very slim. They took him away for treatment and I never saw him again.

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'A few days later they told me had died... I was absolutely devastated and never really recovered,' she added.

In reality the boy survived and doctors had mysteriously decided to send him to an orphanage for abandoned and ill children. Their reason for doing so has never been made clear.

Vova is now 11-years-old and has been reunited with his mother since he was six - but she has only now decided to tell her story to the media to try and get to the bottom of what went wrong.

Strange: It remains unclear why Vova (pictured right with a man dressed as Santa Claus) was declared dead and sent to an orphanage but a spokesman for the hospital said: 'We are looking into why this happened'

Reunited: Describing the ordeal, Ms Formina (pictured right with her son) said: 'Vova was very weak and the doctors said his chances of living were very slim. They took him away for treatment and I never saw him again'

For years after his birth Ms Formina lived a single life and vowed never to have children again.

'After my ex-husband and I were told about Vova our lives fell apart. He went into depression and the marriage split up,' she said.

'I decided to never marry or have another child again as the pain caused already was too great for me to bear,' she added.

But then, out of nowhere, Ms Formina got a phone call that would change her life.

Human rights activist Boris Evseyev, 35, was watching a television programme about the orphanage in which Vova lived and became intrigued by his story.

'There was something about the way he talked that made me interested. He was articulate and intelligent and I decided to look into his background,' Mr Evseyev said.

When he did, he found to his shock that Vova had been declared dead shortly after his birth.

'That's when I became really interested and decided to find his birth mother, which didn't take long as she was named on his hospital certificates and she still lives in the same place.'

Celebration: Human rights activist Boris Evseyev, 35, was watching a television programme about the orphanage in which Vova (right) lived and became intrigued by his story

Within days a reunion had been organised, with Ms Formina saying she 'nearly died from shock' upon being told her son was still alive.

'When we met we both cried for hours,' she said. 'I could never have dreamed that such a miracle would happen.

'I have been told that he is suffering from tetra paresis but it doesn't matter. He is alive and we are back together. We shall never be separated again.'

It remains unclear why Vova was declared dead and then ended up at the orphanage but a spokesman for the hospital said: 'We are looking into why this happened.'

Vova has now been happily living with his mother for the past six years.